Kukla's Korner Hockey

“Ticket sales over the past month have mirrored the team’s outstanding performance,” said Matt Majka, the Wild’s chief operating officer. “The building was jampacked for the Blackhawks game, and the games for the foreseeable future are looking much more healthy than the October games did. Having said that, our work is not done. As an organization, we’ll continue to work on earning the support of our fans.”

A full Xcel Energy Center used to be standard fare for Wild games. Beginning with its inaugural season, the team announced 370 consecutive regular-season sellouts. The streak became a source of organizational pride, highlighted by a special announcement during games.

The sellout streak ended early last season, and attendance has been hit or miss ever since. Wednesday’s game marked the third sellout this season. The team announced sellouts in 25 of its 40 home games last season (one game was played in Finland).

The Wild once ranked in the top half of the NHL in home attendance. The team is 17th so far this season, according to ESPN data. At its peak, the Wild sold more than 16,000 season tickets. The team wouldn’t confirm its current figure, but it is believed to be approximately 13,000.

Comments

Any American, and most Canadian, hockey markets that have teams that don’t have any success for a couple years will have attendance decline. To think otherwise is just ignorant and really, 25/40 sellouts for that team last year is pretty good.